Their Beginnings
by Frosty-san
Summary: Finaly. General Mustang had been rid of the Elrics for years now. He was moving up in the ranks and life was fine...Until the day a 16 year old alchemist with an automail leg and a P.O.W. Chimera showed up on the militery's front step... Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

_**Their Beginnings: Part 1**_

**WARNING: The fallowing story contains SPOILERS. They don't come in for a while, but they are in there. Also, this story contains some bad language and other assorted PG 13 content**

**Characters: I own Liz, Mel, and all the other randos that aren't in the anime/manga.**

**Ok, now its time for the inevitable "I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist" statement in this fanfic. Yay for Arakawa-sensei!**

**THE FALLOWING SENTENCES CONTAIN SPOILERS.**

**This story takes place in 1924. If you didn't know, Edward is 15 in 1913, and Alphonse is 14. This story is set _after_ the movie. Because we don't know if Ed and Al get back to Amestris (their world, other side of the Gate), this storry assumes they haven't made it back and are still in our world. **

_**Ok, just to make sure you have this straight...**_

**-This story takes place in 1924.**

**-This story takes place in Amestris (Ed's world).**

**-This story assumes The Elrics are still in our world.**

**-The Elrics are not main characters.**

North of Central lies the large, but hardly inhabited town of Lawrence, it's territory spreading for miles and miles throughout the mountains and snow covered valleys. The sun was setting, and lights from the large, log-cabin-like homes and stores illuminated the darkening valley. But from one of the windows of the upper story of a tavern, a blue light flashed and then dimmed.

"Hey, Travis! Travis, look!"

A young girl,sixteen years old to be exact, with long blonde hair and blue eyes was rushing down the stairs of an old tavern to the bar. In her hand she held a glass with a chunk of ice in it. The girl put the glass down in the bar, folded her arms, and grinned triumphantly at the man behind the bar.

"Wassat, Lizz?" the man said to the blonde girl.

"What's that! Is that all you have to say, Travis!" She said defensively, then sighed and grinned once more.

"Its what I've been trying to do for a two years now...Alchemy!"

"Really? It took you two years to put ice in a cup, eh?" Travis said. He placed down the cup he had been cleaning, opened the refrigerator behind him, then dropped a few cubes of ice into the glass. "Well would you look at that! I'm an alchemist! I never knew I had it in me." He joked with Lizz

"Har har." Lizz said and she snatched up the glass she brought down with her. "You know I've been studying alchemy for a while now...The books suggested that for your first transmutation you use something simple that you know has other forms. So...I used H2O."

Travis smirked and said "Wouldn't it just be easier to say 'water'?"

"H2O has three forms...gas, liquid and solid. That's why I say H2O." Lizz said examining her glass of ice which was beginning to melt. "I finally was able to transmute the liquid, water, into its solid form, ice."

"Well, I really am proud that you've dedicated yourself to something useful like this." Travis said, leaning over the bar and putting his hand on Lizz's shoulder, a hint of pride in his eyes. "Now, once you get better...you can go transmute the ice off the front of my car so I can get to the market." he laughed.

"You can't be serious for more than five seconds, can you?" Lizz said sternly, but then smiled. Teasing her was just Travis' way of letting Lizz know he cared. Many years ago, when Lizz was 2, an avalanche that buried half of the town of Lawrence took the lives of her parents. Travis, being her only uncle, took the responsibility of raising her. When she turned 15, he put her to work in his tavern, which was a local hang out for many of Lawrence's inhabitancies.

It was then when Lizz's interest in alchemy first sparked. She loved the concept of how when she worked hard in the bar, she earned money, and then she spent the money to buy things. She lost the money, but gained something she wantedin return. Lizz had learned that that was the basic law of alchemy from a State Alchemist passing through Lawrence. She remembered that fateful day she met him in the bar.

Lizz was working in the tavern late one night. The radio blared Amestrian country music that some drunkards in the back sang to it out of tune. The smell of alcohol loomed in the air and she breathed in the sweet, farmiliar sent. Lizz could see out the frosty window the sun had just set and the 9 o'clock train had just let off passengers.

Within a few moments, groggy travlers flodded into the bar after departing the train station. Amoung them was a tall man in a knee length black travleing cloak. Is scruffy brown hair was consealed underneath a blue military hat, and he wore a nicly pressed military uniform under his coat. As Lizz poured a drink for another man, the uniformed man took a seat at the bar and removed his hat covered in snow.

"Ah, Amestris' finest!" Boomed Travis as he aproached the military officer from behid the bar. "Always a pleasure to have a guest like yourself, have a drink on the house."

"Thank you sir, a scotch please."

Lizz watched nochalontly as Travis served the offical a scotch. The two started to conversate and Lizz listened while cleaning some glasses.

"Ah! I see you've got a Silver Clock. That means you're a State Alchemist, if I'm not mistakin. What brings you al the way up hear?" Travis asked in his loud, but joyful voice.

"Oh, here to research some of the eliment properties of the mountains." Said the Alchemist and he took a drink. "We have reason to beleive Lawrence may be rich in precious metals that the State would be happy to use."

"Good! Its time Lawrence got some buisness. I mean the only busness that brings in outsiders is the skiing."

The two continued to talk about very boring subjects and Lizz only glanced over now and then. One time when she loked over, th man caught her eye, smiled, and winked. Lizz blushed and turned. She knew he wa only being friendly, but he _was_ handsome.

"Sir, isn't that girl a little young to be working in a tavern?" the Alchemist ased inqusitivly.

"Oh, Lizz you mean. Well, she is my neice and relitives are allowed to work in bars. Well, at least around here they are." Travis explained. "Lizz, come over here and say hello."

Lizz bashfuly made her way tawrds the two and Travis' ourstreched arm caught her and sqeezed her tight to his side. He gave her a playful nuggie and introduced her to the Alchemist.

"I've never met a State Alchemist before." Lizz said to the man who's military name was the Stone Alchemist. "Whats it like being an Alchemist?" Soon, Lizz the the Stone Alchemist were deep in conversation. He told her about alchemy and all its helpful benifits to mankind. He displayed alchemy and before he left, the Stone Alchemist gave her a book; 'An Introduction to Alchemy'.

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Over the next two years, Libby applied herself to alchemy in her spare time. To her, is was amazing, she didn't know how she ever lived without it. And finally, on this cold winter night, Liz preformed her first transmutation. And it wasn't just any normal transmutation, it was her soon-to-be signature H2O alchemy...

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It was silent. Darkness engulfed the seemingly empty city's streets, the only light coming from the stars and moon hung in the dark blue sky. The building were crumbled and smoldering ash glowed inthe streets in heaps. Here and there, a lone body lie stone cold in death. Not more than a few hours ago before sunset, this had been a bustling city with happy citizens and beatiful buildings. Now the only signs of life were from the massive bats from the near by forest flying overhead.

A gun cocked.

Foot steps.

It was getting closer...

Just a few yards away...

From out of an ally, a tall brunette woman, dressed in military uniform pants and a black, short sleeved shirt, came running out into the street. She had in her hands a long metal rod (about 7 feet long), topped with a razor sharp, pointed end. One of the four men in the street shot at her repetitively, but she fell to the ground and rolled up to him, stabbing him in the stomach with the long pointed rod.

Another man from the group yelled to unseen comrades hidden by the darkness in the city's streets. "The State has sent troops! Send word to the boss--" but his sentence was cut short by the woman, who took the blunt end of the rod and whacked him up side the head. "Troops?" She spat as he fell to the ground. "Try, 'troop'."

"Bitch!" Yelled one of the two remaining men. He pointed his gun at her, but she smirked and whacked it away with her rod, then grabbed his arm and tossed him over her shoulder backwards. He rolled and quickly got up with help from the last man, and then the two ran. Lazily, the woman picked up the gun from one of the dead soldiers and cocked it. She aimed...

_Bang!_

One man fell to the ground. He was on his knees gripping is left shoulder. The last man stood on the spot, terrified. "You tell you rebel leader" she said loudly "that the State is onto your little terrorist cult. Unless you surrender yourselves and the hostages of the city within 24 hours, the State will be taking action."

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It was a normal night and the tired travlers, drunks, and preacticaly the rest of the Lawrence townsfolk were in the bar. It was Friday and that ment kick off the work free weekend with a night of fun at the local tavern. But their night of partying was inturpted by a oud bang of the door bursting open.

"Travis! Turn on your radio!" the man in the doorway said. Bewildered, Travis went to the corner of the bar and flipped on the old radio. All eyes were on Travis as he tuned in and raised the volume.

An urgent voice came booming from the radio "Twenty minutes ago, we received word of a terrorist attack on East City. Very little information has been given out by the military, but our sources tell us an entire city has been eradicated and terrorists are now using it was a base. The number of lives lost is thought to be in the thousands, military scouts have been sent into the city to find the main bases of the terrorists, who call themselves the Ta-Har."

The bar was silent as the man on the radio paused.

"If you live near the effected area, military officials suggest you leave you homes as soon as possible. We will bring you more information thought the week."

Travis clicked off the radio. The tavern became filled with worried muttering. Things such as "what if there is to be another war?", "There better not be a draft...", and "I'm glad all my relatives live in Lawrence!" could be heard floating though the air. Lizz had an uneasy feeling in her stomach. A war in the south? For the first time in her life, she felt so isolated in her northern hometown. Here they were, just a tiny town hidden in the mountains, doing nothing but sitting and listening to the radio.

She wanted to help. She couldn't just sit. Lizz remembered the State Alchemist who inspired her interest in alchemy. That is what she would do. Even if she was still too young to helping this particular war, she would some day help the State and fight the evils against it.

Over the next week, more reports came in, while Lizz took time off from work to practice her alchemy. She was now using large amounts of water to transmute into ice. Many times she had successfully transmitted ice sculptures from the bath tub which she used to practice with. She decided, if she were to work for the State, she should start to transmute weapons. After many tries, she transmuted a sword of solid ice that easily cut though firewood.

Travis supported her in her studies, but always warned her to be careful. But some times, humans tend to get cocky when they know they are getting good at something. 'If I'm going to be a State Alchemist' Lizz thought, 'I'm going to have to be good at close combat.' She soon got the idea to try to transmute the water into her hand, so that once the transmutation was over, she wouldn't have to bend over and pick up the sword. It would be there in her hand, ready to go and fight.

Lizz stood at the edge of the filled bath tub. She drew a transmutation circle on a piece of paper, the dropped it into the water. She touched the water and the transmutation started. As it began to transmutate into ice, the liquid dropped and froze on Libby's right leg.

"Ah, fuck!" she yelled. She lost her balance, and as she fell to the floor, she hit her head hard on the side of the bath tub. Everything went black, and all she should feel was the cold on her leg...

**Authors Note (sort of..): Oooh! What now! Ha, I bet you were thinking her arm was going to get frozen! Well think again compadre, I'm not that predictable :D ! -gives you crazy look as you just stare back confused and slightly disurbed-**

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The brunet woman sat with her back against the bench sitting in the covered bed of a military vehicle. Her eyes were closed, her arms folded, and her long metal rod was strapped to her back.

"Your looking calm, Lieutenant Colonel Melonie Fice." said one of the soldiers on the bench opposite of her.

"I told you, its Mel." She sighed. "And why shouldn't I be calm?" she said, peering over her small, rectangular, rounded edged sunglasses at the other soldiers.

"Are you insane? Were about to go behind enemy lines! That doesn't bother you the slightest bit?" one asked.

"She has already been over there..." said another.

"Yes, I went in after the first terrorist attack." Mel said, unfolded her arms and scratching her head. "But if I was the Fuhrer, I would just bomb the place..."

"We don't know if they have any civilians left in there." said the driver. "That's your mission."

"Peh, that's a job for search and rescue teams...Last time I was in there, I took out 2 and let 2 more go. Then I came back to our base to report that they were, indeed, using the city as a base."

The truck came to a halt. A whistling sound was getting closer and closer...

"EVERYONE OUT!" Mel shouted. She dove out the back of the truck and ran. She took a glance back to see the truck explode, and a group of men a few yards away with a rocket launcher of some sort. Mel reached behind her and grabbed her rod, and ran towards the group of Ta-Hars. But they spotted her half way and shot at her. She just barely dodge the rocket, but the explosion got her. She yelled in pain, and clutched her side. She felt blood run down her face, and things were getting hazy.

She heard a truck pull up near her. She tried to stand, but she fell out and vomited blood. Three men jumped out of the truck and grabbed her, placing her in the back of the truck. Thinking she was safe, she allowed herself to pass out in the back of the truck.

Mel awoke with a stabbing pain in her side. She clenched the bed with her hands as she tried to bare the pain. A wet rag wasplaced on her forehead, and she looked to see who it was. A man in a long sleeved white shirt was sitting in a chair next to the bed she was on.

"Wha- whats gong on?" she choked out. "This doesn't look like a hospital." Mel looked around the room. It was filled with cages full of animals, and some larger cages covered with canvases.

"I'll get right to the point." said the man. "I'm going to save your life, and you are going to work for the Ta-Har."

Mel was silent for a second. "You sound like an alchemist. You would call that a fair trade, wouldn't you?" she said through her teeth. The pain was immense.

"Indeed I am. I was captured by the Ta-Har when they invaded the city, and at gunpoint I told them I was an alchemist. They put me to work creating Chimeras from their wounded soldiers. They have a limited supply of soldiers, each one counts. If I can save one by turning it into a Chimera, then they will make me perform the transmutation."

"I'm not a Ta-Har soldier" Mel spat.

"I am aware of that, miss. Our prisoners of war, soldiers from the State, tell us you one of the best close combat military officers in the state. Up there with the Iron Blood Alchemist in skill, eh?" The man smirked. "it would be a shame to let such a talented soldier go to waist."

"Why!" Mel yelled, despite the pain."Why would you work for the Ta-Har? You should have given up your life as support for your country!"

The man laughed. "Really? If I were to point a gun at you this very moment, you would not retaliate to save your life? Or would you give your life up for the State, be a loyal dog of the military?"

Mel stared coldly at the alchemist. "Bastard..."

"I take that as a yes...Fine. I'm going to transmute you anyways, I think you will decide being a Chimera is better than dying with your wounds..."

_**Check back for updates soon! Please leave reviews!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Their Beginnings: Part 2**_

**WARNING: The fallowing story contains SPOILERS. They don't come in for a while, but they are in there. Also, this story contains some bad language and other assorted PG 13 content**

**Characters: I own Liz, Mel, and all the other randos that aren't in the anime/manga.**

"Lizz"

Lizz heard a voice saying her name, and she opened her eyes. As the bright light blinded her, she felt a that there was something wrong. Then she reilized-she couldn't feel her right leg. Lizz sat up and ripped the covers off of herself, revealing a bandaged stump where her leg had once been. She sat frozen, gazing at the stump that was now the remainder of her leg. Lizz felt a hand on her shoulder, and she came out of her little trance.

She looked over to see Travis looking down at her with a faint smile.

"What happened?" Lizz asked, rubbing her leg.

"Your leg was frozen in ice when I found you...You were unconsious and your leg was stuck to the floor. It took four men from the bar and some ice chizles to get you out. By the time we got you to the hospital, you had contracted serious frostbite. Your leg was just dead tissure" Travis paused. "So they had to amputate it. I'm really sorry Lizz."

"Don't be...It's my fault. I got cocky and careless..." Lizz replied. It was true. She thought she could do it, but she should have had some one around if she were trying new alchemy techniques...

"Travis? Can...can I get an auto-mail leg? I'll work for a straight year to pay it off..." Lizz said, her voice trailing off.

"I knew you would ask that. Your train leaves tomorrow. I've called some auto mail engineers in Central City, and they can fit you with some auto mail this year." Travis said. "You better get packing. Your going to be there a while, they say it takes time to get used to the auto mail. And while your there, I think you could use a bit of vacation. Also..." he said in a weird tone, "You can check out the military head quarters in Central. That's the career you want, right?"

Her stomach gave a lurch when he said that. This wasn't so bad after all. Having an auto mail leg wouldn't be too horrible, would it? And she could have a vacation and check out the Central HQ...Yeah, she was going to like this Lizz told herself.

The next day, Travis drove Lizz to the train station. She got out on a pair of crutches, and Travis put her bag over her shoulder. Lizz hobbled over onto the train and took a seat next to the window. She stuck her head out the window to talk to Travis before the train left.

"Travis...thank you so much..." She couldn't begin to tell him how thankful she was.

"Hey, I just want you to be happy, Elisabeth." Travis said back to her. "You're the closest thing I have to a daughter."

"And you're my closest thing I have to parents." Libby said back. Growing up, they had both acted more like uncle and niece. Not once ha he ever called Lizz by her full name, Elisabeth. For a moment, she wanted to get off the train and stay with Travis, but she didn't have the choice. The train's whistle blew, and the train began its journey to Central City.

Upon arrival, Lizz hobbled out of the train and into the busy train station. Immediately, the sensation of freedom rushed over her. Never in her life had she gone somewhere on her own that she wasn't accustom to. But with that emotion of freedom, came the awareness of the heat. Lizz was from the north, and the 90 degrees temperatures were baring down on her. She took a seat on a bench outside the station in front of the street. She heaved a heavy sigh and opened her bag, producing a piece of paper Travis had given her. There in his scribbly handwriting was the address of the local auto-mail engineers.

Libby flagged down a taxi, and the driver helped her in and asked her where to go. She told him the address, and they drove off into the city.

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Mel sat huddled in the back of her cage, enveloped in the shadows. She sat quietly by herself, wondering what would become of her. A door opened and the sound of two men walking in echoed though the cell lined hall. They stopped in front of Mel's cage. One of the men was the Alchemist who she had spoken with the day before. He seemed nervous and was slightly fidgety. The man next to him was a tall, black bearded man with a black uniform on. He held a clip board and was reading it, until he spoke.

"Lieutenant Colonel Melonie Fice, a State combat specialist?" he said with the notion of being impressed. "Says Squad 15 shot her on no man's land between our base and the State's, then she was transported here and you made her into Chimera." He looked at the Alchemist. "Is that correct?"

"Yes," said the Alchemist, trying to avoid eye contact. "It was a success."

"A success?" Mel said with a slight hint of insanity. "You call this a success!" She stood and came out of the shadow into the view of the men. Her body was covered in a light brown fur, her face no longer pure human looking, but a mix between a fox-bat and a human. Her eyes were still a golden yellow, and she had rusty brown colored hair now. She seemed to have gained a sixth finger on each hand (er, paw, perhaps?), but it and her fith fingers extended to the length of her arms. Stretched in between the two thin, extended fingers was a leathery membrane that was a grayish black hue. Her canine teeth were also larger and sharper, and her feet had claws and she could stand either with her feet flat, or on the ends of her feet like a rabbit. Mel had also lost about a foot in her hight. She had once been 5'11, but now he was a megar 5'3 -- pretty short compared to what she had once been.

Her physical state and appearance wasn't the only thing wrong. Her senses--most of them--were more accute. Though bats are normally frail creatures, Fox Bats are the largest and strongest of them all, and now combined with Mels current strength and agility, she felt as if she could take on an army of Ta-Hars herself. While waiting in her cell for any people to come along, she had found that her claws were razor sharp and easily made deep scratches in the iron walls around her.

"Nonsense! You are a perfect Chimera now." exclaimed the Alchemist who had done this to her.

"Then...how come I can remember being a Fox Bat as well as a human?" Mel said, her voice shaking. It was true, she had two memories, one from her human life, and one from her Fox Bat life. She remembered being free in the south-east in a large group of Fox Bats. She remembered hunting for food and the sweet taste of a big fat bug. Mel also remembered how she used sonar to locate bugs in the air. Mel closed her eyes and tried to use her sonar. In a spit second, it was as if some one had drawn a picture of the room in her head. She knew where everything was, how big it was, everything. Down to the paper wadded up in a ball in a corner and a gnat flying above the bearded man's head.

The alchemist began to sweat violently and waited for the bearded man to speak.

"No matter." He said as he wrote on the clipboard. "I don't give a damn about her mental state, as log as you can produce able-bodied chimeras, Mr. Brown. Fice, you will fight for us."

"Never"

"We'll she how long ou feel that way. But for now you'll be joining your comrades."

Two other uniformed men came in and placed a large iron collar around Mel's furry neck and one man connected a chain to it. Mel felt like an animal...Then it made her feel a bit more human when they put handcuffs on her wrists. They also put leather cuffs with a small lock on her two extended fingers and her upper arms so that they were strapped to her arms and were unable to move. Then the four men led Mel down the row of cells to the very end where a very large iron door stood. They opened the door to revile a large prison dining hall. Along the dining hall were cells, all of which the doors were open. Many State prisoners of war watched as the chains were removed from her iron collar and her handcuffs were taken off.

"Your cell number is 64. When the guards say 'to your cells' you get in it. Understand?" Said the bearded man.

Mel stared at him coldly, then slapped her with the back of his hand. "I am the leader of the Ta-Hars! You obey me. You are no longer a State dog. It seems to me you are now a Ta-Har Bat." He smirked. "Do you understand?"

"Its not that I don't understand, its just that I don't give a damn what you have to say." Mel said. Some of the State prisoners snickered and some uttered small sounds of supprise. The Ta-Har leader pulled out his gun, cocked it, and fired. The bullet grazed Mel's face just below her right eye, and she clasped it with her hands. It stung feircly and she knew there was going to be a scar from it as the blood seeped onto her distorted fingers. The guards and prisoners watched and waited. He leader said nothing and left the hall, as did the three other men.

As her blood warmed her hands, Mel felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see a strange combination between a man and a hawk. He had a yellow beak and blackish brown feathers, and dark, golden eyes like Mel's. He wore a blue button up short sleeved prison shirt with reveled his feathered arms. His pants were ripped to allow his feather tail out, and at his knees his legs looked like enlarged hawk's legs. His talons made small scratches in the dirt floor where he stood.

"Come with me." He said in a deep voice. His beak made small clicking sounds when he spoke.

Mel fallowed the Hawk Chimera to a table where five other men sat. There was another chimera sitting at the table. He was a handsome young man mixed with a German Shepherd-looking dog. His face was black with small marks of tan brown fur over his black eyes. There was also a tan brown dilmond mark on his forehead. His muzzle and nose were black like the rest of his fur. He also wore a blue button up short sleeved prison shit, and had long black pants on. His legs were crossed and his bare, paw-like feet were resting on the table.

"So that makes three of us." Said the dog chimera. "You think on his third try he would have made a better one."

"Ha, that old bastard sucks." laughed a man at the table."I studied alchemy at one time, too. Stopped once I failed the State Alchemy exam. That Ta-Har alchemist has an obvious signature mistake. Look at you three, you all look similar."

Mel had also noticed that they, the three Chimeras, had similar features. They all had faces and fur resembling their animal counterparts, and they all had messed up legs and hands. Then she thought about her second memory.

"Do either of you remember your life as an animal?" Mel asked. Mel luahged in her head. Normaly some one's first words to some one would be 'hello' or 'me name is'. But Mel looked at her furry arms and reilize normality was no longer a part of her life.

"I do," said the dog Chimera. "But the Colonel doesn't." he nodded at the Hawk Chimera. "By the way, I'm Second Lieutenant Colonel David Brian. Er, well, I guess I'm just David Brian now."

"Oh, sorry. Forgot to introduce myself." Mel said rubbing the back of her head. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Mel Fice. Call me Mel, please. And why do you say 'I guess I'm just David Brian now'? Who says we're out of the military?"

The other POWs (Prisoners Of War) laughed.

"If we ever get out of this hell hole, which there is a slight chance of mind you, do you really think the military will have use for you? Not trying to be harsh, but you guy are pretty messed up." said one of the POWs.

"I am Colonel Grain." said the hawk Chimera sternly to the men who had just laughed. "Do you think they will throw away a Colonel just because of a deformity? I was a sharp-shooter before I was captured. The Ta-Hars knew that and merged me with a hawk. A hawk's vision in addition to my shooting skills...that is a killing machine...We are not 'messed up', we are enhanced."

As Lizz sat in the back seat of the taxi, she looked out the window at Central City. It looked like there had been a war or something. Buildings were destroyed and there seemed to be a lot of re-construction going on.

"Sir?" Libby started. "Why is the city in such bad shape?"

"Eh? Oh.." He took a long drag on his cigarette. "'Couple 'o years ago, there was this strange battle between the military 'n some weird armored guys...Don't really know what happened. The Military kept it's mouth shut 'n the public never really was informed...But there were explotions, not too many dead thankfully...Half the city was destroyed. Yup, but we've been gettin' back on our feet." He said and nodded out the window at a school being rebuilt.

Lizz didn't have much time to think on this subject. The car pulled up to a magnificent hospital with pretty flower beds on either side of the doors. An Amestris flag was proudly hung on a pole in each of the flower beds, and each window had green cutains draped in front of them. It was beautiful, but not what Lizz expected. She didn't like the thought of staying in a hospital, no matter how nice it was, for the full auto-mail recovery.

Lizz placed her hand on the handle of the car door, ready to get out. But the car didn't stop. It drove to the end of the hospital where a large house stood. It too had flower beds and green drapes. It had a nice front proch with some deck chairs and swinging benches. The flower beds (not nearly as large as the ones at the hospital) were stationed in the yard in front of the porch, and the house also had an Amestris flag hung from a pole attached to the porch roof. In the right flower bed, a large wooden sign said "Central City Auto-Mail House. In Association with Central City Hospital" in green letters that were outlined with gold.

"Our stop miss." Said the driver. He got out, helped Lizz out, and got her bag from the trunk. Lizz took the bad from him and with her crutches hobbled up the porch steps and in the front door. When she came inside, there was a corridor with two doorways, another hall, and a stairwell. The right door had a sign that said "Office" and the other door was wide open.

Lizz peeked in and saw many people in the enormous room. There was a man with an auto-mail leg playing chess with a woman with an auto-mail left arm. In the corner sat some kids playing with a train set, all with various types of auto-mail. There were a few limbless people in the room as well, interacting with the others just fine. Some of the limbless people seemed to have metal cap like things where their limbs had once been. These peoples' face gave an expression of trying to hide pain.

Lizz looked at the other people in the room and noticed they too seemed to be wincing and fighting pain. The woman playing chess bit her lip as she slowly moved a chess piece with her auto-mail arm. Once the piece was moved, she smiled and had a relived look in her eye. A small girl with an auto-mail leg helped an even smaller boy with two auto-mail arms move a train along the wooden track.

Then Lizz spotted a lady in the corner knitting and watching the others happily. She as fully intact, no missing limbs, no auto-mail. Her hair was light red and she was a some what of a plump woman. She has rosie cheeks and was a bit short. She had on a black sweater and a skirt, and had small rectangular glasses with a chian on them. She looked like a cross between an art teacher and librarian. When the small girl with the metal leg stood up to walk, the woman got up and helped her walk to the other side of the toy train track.

"Thanks Keolling-chan!" exlaimed the little girl and went back to playing. As the woman named Keolling made her way back to her seat, she saw Lizz standing in the doorway.

"Oh! Hello, you must be Marque-san. Your uncle called me to tell me you were on your way a while ago." Keolling walked over to Lizz and guided her into the office. "Have a seat dear, have a seat. Now, wait a minuet, I'll be with you in a second." She had a strong, nice accent (which in our world we would call and Irish accent). Keolling went back into the corridor and Lizz heard her say; "Call me if you need anythin'." to the people in the room. Keolling came back and sat behind the desk in front of Lizz.

"Welcome to Central City Auto-Mail, Miss Marque." She said. "We need to fill out your paperwork and do a physical examination. My name is Ellen Keolling. My husband, Kyal Keolling, is the head auto-mail engineer and surgeon here. We also have Mrs. Kumpf here. She assists my husband and I both in the sugury and post surgery. You will meet them both some time today..." Mrs. Keolling suffled some papers on her desk and gave a soft "Ahh!" when she pulled out s spesific one. "So you're from Lawrence?"

"Yes ma'am." Lizz said as she suddenly relized Mrs. Keolling was asking her a question. Everything was going so quickly.

"Oh please," Mrs. Keolling chuckled, "Call me Ellen."

"All right." Lizz nodded. "Yes, I've lived in Lawrence my entire life. My uncle Travis raised me."

"Ooooh, facinating! I've always wanted to go some where its cold and snowy all year long!" Mrs. Keolling laughed. "Tell me, have you ever seen a polar bear?"

"Yeah, people love the bears. We even have nick names for some of the ones we can spot in the woods from time to time..."

"Haha, its is the first time we have had a northerner as a coustomer. Any ways," Ellen began, "Lets get this paperwork done."

**Frostbite is when skin and tissue is destroyed due to a long exposure to freezing tempatures. Some times mountain climbers or people traped in avilaunches lose their toes, fingers, feet, or lower arms (ect.) due to frostbite.**

**A Membrane is the thin, pliable skin that bats' wings are made of.**

**Keolling is prnounced Caol-ing.**

**Marque is pronunced Mar-quway. **


End file.
